Cowboys Avoid Another Collapse... Barely

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The good news for Dallas on Sunday was that, for the fourth time in six games since Jason Garrett took over as head coach, they won. There was certainly a good deal of bad news, however, as well.

Dallas gave up a 20 point lead to the Redskins before salvaging the win with a late David Buehler field goal. They surrendered two late touchdowns and two successful two point conversion tries in the fourth quarter and, for the seventh time in the last nine games, allowed 30 points.

It’s not as though the offense or special teams is without blame, but, in a word--as you may have surmised from the above statistics--the problem is defense.

The Dallas Morning News published a kind of unbelievable group of statistics today, which quantify just how bad the Cowboys have been against the pass this season. Against Dallas, opposing quarterbacks have posted: 31 touchdowns; 17 interceptions; 66.7% completion rate; 3,806 yards; and a 97.5 Passer Rating.

But more than statistical ineptitude, what’s alarming for fans is the Cowboys’ penchant for late collapses of the sort they barely avoided yesterday. The pieces from last season, when the team ranked among the best in the league in almost every defensive category, remain in place. Which begs the question, just what exactly has changed?

We won’t venture a guess, but we can say with fair confidence that it’s not for a lack of talent. At any rate, Jason Garrett, Paul Pasqualoni and co. would do well to remember not that they won on Sunday, but how they won.